Purchase and Installation of a Compactor Storage System in the Entomology Research Museum, University of California, Riverside

UCR的昆虫学研究博物馆（ERM）拥有大约300万个标本，是北美20个最大的昆虫收藏之一，也是10个最大的以大学为基础的收藏之一。鉴于昆虫代表了我们生物多样性的大部分，而这种多样性在西南部最高，ERM是我们国家最重要的生物资源库之一。不幸的是，ERM的运作空间严重不足，妨碍了收集的适当管理，抑制了增长，影响了其存放参考材料和实地研究和生物防治工作凭证的能力。对额外空间的需求是迫切和迫切的，但在可预见的未来，没有或将没有这样的空间。唯一可行的解决方案是提高现有空间的存储容量。此外，目前的储物柜也不够；很少有博物馆提供气密密封来阻止破坏性的害虫。根据要求，通过升级到具有高质量机柜的空间高效压缩存储系统，ERM可以为超过200万的额外标本增加存储空间，同时改善标本访问、收集工作空间、物理组织、地震安全和虫害控制。ERM的持续维护和获取资料对物种鉴定、支持研究、应用科学和培养昆虫学新学生至关重要。加州大学洛杉矶分校昆虫学系有许多教职员工和学生，他们在ERM工作并存放标本，ERM参与全球贷款计划，因此它的标本在世界各地使用。ERM的寄生蜂收藏是世界上最多样化和增长最快的收藏之一，与大多数类似的收藏不同，其超过500,000个标本中的大多数都有寄主记录，使其成为世界上最有价值的农业害虫有益寄生蜂信息来源之一。这种生物防治剂（和害虫）的参考材料对农业的价值怎么估计都不过分，因为害虫防治的基础是能够准确识别所涉及的各种生物，而且与加州农业的密切联系使ERM在该州影响深远的生物防治研究中处于公认的重要地位。ERM的蜜蜂收藏也被广泛认为是世界上最重要的蜜蜂收藏之一，拥有超过20万个标本，代表了美国本土3000种蜜蜂中的一半以上，其中一些是对农业重要的传粉者。ERM的收集也越来越多地用于制定与环境有关的决策（例如，多物种保护计划），包括培训环境顾问，以及作为加利福尼亚州和其他地方生物多样性调查的存储库和鉴定中心。ERM本身在整个南加州开展了广泛的持续收集工作，包括对几个受保护和限制的地区进行调查，不仅对评估当前的多样性至关重要，而且对过去也至关重要，因为许多标本已经有40-100年的历史，代表了灭绝、衰退或在上个世纪发生了重大变化的物种或种群；这是关于加州昆虫的不可替代的数据来源，也是美国一些最独特和/或最受威胁的栖息地的数据来源。ERM还为从事城市害虫防治、公共卫生和环境生物学工作的人员以及公众提供了宝贵的资源。它在UCR的教育推广项目中发挥着重要作用，并响应学校和个人的要求。它收集和传播信息，包括通过互联网，地方和国家媒体利用ERM工作人员的专门知识。

With some 3 million specimens, UCR's Entomology Research Museum (ERM) is one of the 20 largest insect collections in North America, and one of the 10 largest strictly University-based collections. Given that insects represent the bulk of our biodiversity, and this diversity is highest in the southwest, the ERM is one of our nation's most important biological resource repositories. The ERM is, unfortunately, operating at a significant space deficit, preventing proper curation of the collection and inhibiting growth, affecting its ability to house reference material and vouchers for field research and biocontrol work. The need for additional space is immediate and compelling, but no such space is or will be available for the foreseeable future. The only viable solution is to improve the storage capacity of the existing space. Also, the present storage cabinets are inadequate; few offer an air-tight seal to deter destructive museum pests. By upgrading to a space-efficient compactor storage system with new high-quality cabinets, as requested, the ERM can add storage space for over 2 million additional specimens and simultaneously improve access to specimens, collection workspace, physical organization, earthquake safety, and pest control. The continued maintenance and acquisition of material by the ERM is vital to the identification of species in support of research, applied science, and for the training of new students of Entomology. The UCR Entomology department includes numerous faculty, staff, and students that work with and deposit specimens in the ERM, and the ERM participates in a global loan program, so its specimens are utilized all over the world. The ERM's parasitic wasp collection is one of the world's most diverse and fastest growing, and unlike most similar collections, the majority of its over 500,000 specimens have host records, making it one of the world's most valuable sources of information about beneficial parasitoids of agricultural pests. The value of this reference material of biocontrol agents (and pests) to agriculture cannot be overestimated, since the foundation of pest control is the ability to accurately identify the various organisms involved, and close ties to California's agriculture place the ERM in a recognized position of importance for the state's far-reaching biocontrol research. The ERM's bee collection is likewise widely recognized as one of the world's most important, with over 200,000 specimens representing over half of the 3,000 bee species native to the US, several of these being pollinators important to agriculture. The ERM's collections are also increasingly being used in making decisions relating to the environment (e.g., Multispecies Conservation Plans), including training of environmental consultants, plus acting as a repository and identification center for biodiversity surveys in California and elsewhere. The ERM itself has extensive ongoing collecting efforts throughout southern California, including surveys of several protected and restricted areas, and is not only crucial in assessing the present diversity, but the past, as well, as many specimens are 40-100 years old, representing species or populations that are extinct, in decline, or have changed substantially over the last century; a source of irreplaceable data on Californian insects, and some of the nation's most unique and/or threatened habitats. The ERM further serves as a valuable resource for people working with urban pest control, public health, and environmental biology, as well as for the general public. It plays an important role in UCR's educational outreach programs, and responds to requests by schools and individuals. It gathers and disseminates information, including through the Internet, and local and national media draw on the expertise of the ERM staff.